Aug. 19, 2008
BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. – South Carolina equestrian coach Boo Major has announced the hiring of Alixe Schwartz as assistant coach for the nationally-prominent Hunter Seat team. Schwartz will join Major and Western coach Ruth Sorrel as the team prepares for the 2008-09 season.
Alixe (pronounced “Alex”) Schwartz will serve as the Hunter Seat coach and barn manager for the two-time overall VENC national championship team. She will oversee a Hunter Seat team that won the national championship an unprecedented three times from 2005-07.
“Head Coach Boo Major and Ruth Sorrel have put together an extremely competitive team,” Schwartz said. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work both with them and the riders. I was quite impressed with the barn at One Wood Farm and all of the athletic facilities. It just reflects how much South Carolina supports their student-athletes and is invested in their success. I knew right away, that was the type of environment in which I wanted to work.”
Schwartz comes to South Carolina from Essex, Mass., where she worked as an assistant trainer at Castle Neck Farm since 2002. During her time at Castle Neck, she has trained students that have competed at the Winter Equestrian Festival, the Vermont Summer Festival, HITS Saugerties, USEF Medal Finals, ASPCA Maclay Finals, National Children’s Medal Finals and the National Junior Hunter Finals.
A native of Wakefield, R.I., Schwartz earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., where she was a captain of the equestrian team. She helped lead the team to the 1998 American National Riding Commission (ANRC) National Championship and the 2001 Intercollegiate Horse Show (IHSA) Reserve National Championship during her time as a rider at St. Lawrence.
Schwartz also won numerous medals as a junior rider when she won over 40 AHSA, ASPCA, and USET Talent Search qualifying classes from 1992-95. She was named the 1992 Rhode Island Horseman’s Association Junior Medal champion and the 1995 Connecticut Hunter Jumper Association Junior Medal Reserve champion in addition to winning the 1995 USET Gold Medal by winning 20 qualifying classes.
